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header information - headers already sent by (output started at [ROOT]/includes/functions.php:3899)16 May. Sheffield Regional. 1st place report. I <3 Leela -

This is exciting, I'm writing a tournament report, and it isn't going to end up being an 8 part epic, that is a relief!

I was really unsure on what corp deck to take to this Regional, I'd played The Crusade (Grail RP) at Manchester and it had done really badly. I'd done some testing with the Blue Sun kill deck, but it was so all in on the one game plan I wasn't sure. I did a bit of testing with Chris Dyer's Grail NEH, and while I won with it, I didn't feel confidant with it. I'm not sure if it just isn't my style or what. In the end I decided to stick with Grail RP, I felt I knew the deck the best, I'd had some quite unlucky games with agenda floods in Manchester, and I'd made some cool changes that I hoped would improve the deck.

You will likely notice that there are some interesting choices in the deck... Firstly, I played with the agendas a bit, I dropped an NAPD contract for a Gila Hands Arcology. The reason behind this was because I'd noticed that whenever I lost with RP it was after the runner managed to score a Future Perfect and two other agendas, it was very rare to lose from dropping four 2 point agendas. Therefore, the Gila would do nothing for my opponent, would be very easy for me to score and would provide me with another option for scoring out. I presumed it wouldn't be terrible to have the extra economy as well.The only other exciting change was the addition of a card I'd tested before and had removed, which was Grim. Previously it had almost cost me matches because of the Bad Pub and NAPD, however with one less NAPD in the deck, and the fact that I was REALLY aware of the bad pub now due to my previous mess ups.

Lets talk Runner deck... I briefly considered taking combo MaxX to the event, then realised that there was so much hate for it now it would be terrible. It is a shame as its a super silly deck to play (for the runner). I played Leela - Endless Waltz, this is the deck that I have been testing, playing and refining since the end of last year. She had done me well, winning me a few GNK and 3 Store Championships, but I was worried that the meta had moved away from where she was good. Leela had done well at Manchester where I finished in the 5th/6th position with fellow Leela player Timo.

Only a few changes to this deck, the addition of Symmetrical Visage, an extra Sneakdoor, both of which did great work throughout the day.

The day itself...

Well, getting a call from work at 4:30 wasn't ideal, couldn't get back to sleep... ah well, may as well get up right?The car journey down was amazing, largely we were just dicking about and discovered that Mark had never read Netrunner Erotica (from these very forums) and so he spent the whole car journey wetting himself as he read it. Martin spent the whole journey complaining about 50 mph sections or something that I don't understand as a none driver. The bad news was that Dan (phoenix) couldn't make it due to illness, which is a real shame as he had some very creative decks to play, which seemed to be really strong.

We arrived in Sheffield early and went to the local pub to get a drink while we waited for the store to open. There we bumped into Ryan, Stu and Nick from Worcester, where we play in tournaments a lot. It was really cool to catch up with those guys and discuss what the hell to play as corp.

The store was nice, and the staff seemed friendly. It was good to see a lot of really cool people from other tournaments, Timo (my number one fan ), Coop, Laurie, Brendan and lots of other people, was good to chat with them all. Unfortunately, someone had invited Gaz, which was a shame, never mind.

Round 1

Kicks off and so Stu, Ryan and myself who have used our Super Byes, all chat and play some games. I play against Stu, and manage to beat hit Reina Headlock deck with my RP, but lose a close game against his NEH. These results are interesting, as will become clear later.

4 Prestige

Round 2 vs Jordan with Hayley & NBN Making News

I run first with Leela, and he has an interesting first turn, he ices HQ and plays Mushin No Shin... great... I Sure Gamble, play an R&DI and run, luckily getting an agenda and forcing back the Mushin'd card. Turn two he plays Mushin again and advances it to 4... great... I check R&D but don't find anything so check HQ getting in and steal an agenda. Jordan takes money for his turn and I prod R&D scoring a 3 pointer. He saw a lot of agendas early and Leela wasn't a good match up for the deck, but that deck is AWESOME, more below...

As corp, I am facing off against Hayley, who I predict will be a demon when she is fully set up. I play out my Medical Research Fundraisers in quick succession, meaning I am ready to go early, but I also super charge his economy. I get a Caprice down in a remote and then score a Nisei. A few turns later I go to score an NAPD and Jordan makes a nice Hayley play, he has one breaker out and runs the remote using Stimhack, I shrug knowing I have all three ice types on the remote. He Clone Chips back an SMC, gets his first breaker and then uses Hayley's ability to install the final one from hand, all using Stimhack credits. Nice play that I didn't see coming, mostly because of a lack of experience against Hayley I guess. I am fortunate that Caprice saves the day, and while Jordan applies pressure to the central servers I soon see a Future Perfect that he cannot get in.

*Thanks Gaz

8 Prestige

The Making News deck is a variation of a deck that goes by the name:Beale or No Beale (based on a popular game show)

The idea of the deck is to Mushin No Shin out a card and advance it again, it is either a Junebug, an Overwriter, or a Beale (maybe an Astro) which he can advance 3 more times if you don't run it and score it for 4 points. It can also IAA behind a Matrix Analyser, or use Astro tokens on the traps / agendas. Very fun deck. Jordan also deserves a special shout out for winning 3 runner games with Notoriety!!!

Round 3 vs Ryan with Andromeda & NEH

I think I corp first, and am able to get a good economy up and running quite early which is essential against the NEH Butcher Shop variant that Ryan is using. I apply some early pressure and manage to score an agenda while out of Mideseasons range, but have to let an agenda go at least once because of the threat of Midseason. When the score is 4-3 I make a run with at least 1 R&DI out and see two agendas which wins me the game. However Ryan tells me that if it had been just the one agenda he would have had enough to kill me. Close call, never did see a Plascrete!

In the corp game, I set up some early economy while he plays the set up game, playing two special orders back to back and getting a full rig up early to nullify the threat of my Grail ice some what. I take advantage of his set up and use this to score a Nisei MK II. He starts to R&D lock me but I decide to push through another an NAPD while he is low on money hoping the R&D will behave. It doesn't as he finds a Future Perfect and manages to steal it after the second attempt. I sure up R&D a bit, but he manages to get in a turn or so later and grab another Future Perfect, this makes me worry about the Gila Hands I have, and realising that it is unlikely I will score out a Future Perfect now two are gone, I decide to score the Gila the following turn. I lock down R&D long enough to draw an NAPD, and with my remote well locked down hits R&D, I use the Nisei to end the run and he is too poor to get back in or into the remote.

12 prestige

Round 4 vs Dylan with Kate and Blue Sun

Dylan starts off corping, and I get a bit of a slow start with my economy. Dylan makes a chunk of money through Operations while I building and digging for my economy. This eventually comes in the form of a Symmetrical Visage and Kati Jones, however it also give Dylan opportunity to score an Atlas with a counter, playing smartly around Leela's ability and leaving a click to reinstall ice. I am being very careful of running as he has more economy than me and I've seen very little influence. The turning point of the game is when I am sat at 12 credits with another 12 or so on Kati, Dylan uses his Atlas token to pull a Snatch and Grab from the deck and kill Kati. The following turn he installs and double advances a card. I'm left in a really difficult spot, as my economy has been hit badly and it looks likely that he is about to get to 5 points. If I let this happen its likely game, but if I run it and he has the kills combo, I am also likely dead. I decide to take the risk and Account Siphon him 3 times, running on the remote on click 3, he doesnt rez and I score an Atlas. I pass the turn over to him and ask if I am dead, he smiles but says no. I'm unsure if I have limited time left or if he's running a glacier build. Because of the Snatch and Grab and the triple Siphon play, Dylan is low on credits and so I start to R&D lock him, seeing a Tollbooth and an Ash in R&D tells me I am likely safe from my home being blown up. I continue to R&D lock and score a 5/3, before following up with a Legwork for the win.

As corp, I have an okay opening hand, lots of economy, one agenda but only 1 ice. I decide to keep it, draw into more economy, so play it out and protect HQ. He plays some economy and checks R&D, taking a Nisei MK II off the top, le sigh. I manage to find a Quandary to protect R&D and use the time this gives me to ice up a bit more and establish a scoring remote. He makes a Makers Eye run that scores him an NAPD, and I use the economy hit to push through an NAPD of my own. A little while later he makes another Makers Eye run, this time with an R&DI out, but doesn't see an agenda, so I push through a Future Perfect. He progresses to R&D lock me, and scores another Nisei but fails The Future Perfect psi game. I decide I am in a bad place, as I cannot keep him out of R&D, he knows I have a Future Perfect in hand, and he now has a lot of economy. I decide to just go for it and rely on Caprice, he draws, hits HQ and bounces across to the remote, I dont rez any ice as he has enough money to get in lots of times, so just rez Caprice, but he wins the psi game on the first try. He also said his last click would likely to have been to Makers R&D and the top card was a Nisei, so it was his game regardless.

14 Prestige

Round 5 against Brendan with Noise and HB ETF

I start off running against Brendan's ETF Fast Advance. I start off a bit slow, and set up my breakers and R&D Interfaces, not wanting to rez too many NEXT ice and taxing myself. Both of us do a lot of set up, with me trying to keep his economy down as I build using Siphon and Shutdown. Brendan scores a Vitruvius from his remote using San San City Grid and I use this to get into R&D for a reduced cost, and am lucky to see two agendas in the first 3 cards. Brendan ices up R&D some more while I build up on Kati. I seem to remember him Biotic Laboring out an NAPD on the San San, but this could have been in the remote, but I again hit R&D scoring an agenda. A few turns later I legwork into the winning agenda. It was definitely a game where he had opportunity during the time I was setting up, but didnt see the agendas, and then I was able to R&D lock him, with Leela's ability assisting with this.

The corp game was very fast, I keep what I think is a great hand, it has a Wraparound and Lotus Field, some economy and a Nisei. I Mandatory draw into a Future Pefect, ice up and play some economy. However from there I continue to draw agendas, at one point I have 3 Future Perfect a Nisei and an NAPD. While HQ is protected by a Wraparound, Brendan is building up Datasucker counters. I decide to push through a Nisei when I draw another, making me hold 6 agendas. However Brendan can tell I am flooded and so Parasites away the Wraparound using Datasucker counters. He drops an Imp and runs HQ, scoring or Imping the Future Perfects away to be stolen. He wins the next turn. Great play by Brendan, he knew exactly where to hit.

16 Prestige

Round 6 against David Sutcliffe with MaxX and HB ETF

David starts off by running against RP. I don't remember a lot about this game, I know it was over in under 10 minutes. I know I only have 1 ice in my opening hand, which I drop on HQ in case it is Siphon MaxX. David drops a Keyhole and hits me with it. I manage to get an ice up on R&D but it only gives me a turn or so before being Parasited away and more keyhole runs give David the game early.

Next I play Leela against his HB. I see some upgrades early and so realise it is possibly that deck I have seen on NRDB. I get also see some big ice such as Hiemdall 2.0. David scores out an ABT in his remote that is protect by assets, and I use this to open up R&D and manage to score a Mandatory Upgrades. Later in the game I am able to Emergency Shutdown a large piece of ice and then while he is poor get into the scoring remote and trash the Ash and Red Herring. While being low on economy I am able to score more points from HQ/R&D and manage to keep him low on credits using Siphon I eventually pick up the win.

That leaves me with 18 Prestige which is enough for 3rd seed going into the top 8.

Double Elimination

Richard Hammond with NEH and Andromeda

Being the higher seed, I decide to corp, this is for a couple of reasons, firstly I believe that Grail RP is a good match up for Andromeda, and I want to save Leela, as she is better against some of the other corp decks out there.

I start with a fairly standard opening, and Richard starts with a first turn Opus. I get a Sundew going, and feel like I am just waiting for a Caprice in order to start scoring. Richard makes a run with a Magnum Opus, Corroder and Yog.0 out, but gets hurt by a Lancelot. I'm tempted to trash the Opus, but looking though his trash I see a Breach and so kill the Corroder in case he is only running 1 of each. This gives me a great scoring opportunity and so I am able to score out a Nisei, then a Gila Hands. Richard continues to dig and gets out a Garrote but is still unable to run due to fear on Merlin. I score an NAPD and get a Caprice down in the remote. Richard finally finds his second Corroder and I go for the score, but he Siphons me twice, and I have to use the Nisei token to prevent myself from going broke. Richard gets into the remote and wins the psi game. The next turn I get some economy, and he just keeps using Opus. I play another Caprice and consider trying to score the NAPD in hand, a look at the clock tells me the correct play. I install and double advance, he calculates his turn and hits the remote, winning the psi game (every time) and stealing the NAPD as time is called. I go through at 5 points to 4. It was a very interesting game that could have gone either way, I had the Interns to get the Caprice back, and he still had no way to deal with Merlin, good game.

Winner Bracket against Stu with Reina and NEH

Stu is an amazing player from Worcester who I have played a lot, we both played Corp in the last game, where he knocked Brendan into the losers bracket with his NEH, so we randomise who is running, he is. I played Stu during my free time in the Super Bye round and beat this deck. This time was a bit different. I manage to get some standard ice defences up and he takes money all the time, so I use the opportunity to score an NAPD. I'm not seeing a lot of economy and so the game is tough as he shuts down my ice with Crescentus. I manage to get out a Future Perfect that was under threat in HQ, but doing so puts me very low on economy, he hits me with Keyhole and keeps my economy low to steal it, the game is over shortly after this as he head locks me and steals agendas from R&D. It was a close game and if I had seen a Sundew early it would have made a big difference.

Losers Bracket against Richard Hammond with NEH and Andromeda

Since I have corp'd twice I get to run against the Butcher Shop! It is getting late and after getting up so early I am starting to flag, and therefore my memory is pretty terrible on some of these games. Apologies.

I get my economy up and running and apply a bit of pressure so I know the ice and what breakers I need. I manage to score an agenda while still ahead on credits. Richard scores an early Astro behind a single ice to apply the pressure, however without Fast Track and DBS, I know that Butchershop is not generally a Fast Advance threat, it is still likely to kill you if you go to fast. I keep hitting when I have more money until Richard uses the Astro counter to score a Breaking News and kill my Kati. I use Account Siphon to keep him from getting ahead on credits, recur it with SOT or other copies I have, but always clear tags so it is slow going. I manage to steal an NAPD safely, but steal an Astro when he is slightly ahead on credits. He takes credits and then Midseasons me for around 35 tags. I could have fought off twenty something, but it doesnt seem worth it, and I decide to use the fact that he is broke to win. R&D doesn't give anything up and neither does HQ. He takes money, and plays Sweeps Week. I check R&D and get a Plascrete down. He takes money and digs a bit. I hit R&D and see a Scorched Earth as the first card, but the winning agenda as the second. That scorch was the 3rd one and would have killed me.

Loser Bracket final against Stu with Reina and NEH

This time I am running again against his Astro Biotics, I would have said that this is a good match up for me, but I lost to it during Super Bye round play testing. I honestly cannot remember a lot about this game, I get stuff set up and managed to score an early agenda but he had a lot of economy assets set up that I just couldnt afford to trash, including a Daily Business Show. I felt like I had the advantage with an R&D Interface out and seeing two new cards each turn until Stu scored a Breaking News from his remote and then Closed my Accounts. I bounced back a bit and he scored out during this window.At the end of the game I remember that Stu and I were both on 5 points and looking for the winning agenda and I saw it because of the R&DI's before he did. Was a close game, and I find it entertaining that the results in the tournament are the opposite of the morning games. Stu is a great player, and all of our games can go either way in my opinion.

The FinalI make it through to the final against Laurie Poulter, the most travelled man in Netrunner, and need to win twice to take home the crown.

I start by running against his HB ETF, he seems to be quite poor with his economy in the early game, and I apply a good amount of pressure. He Fast Advances out an agenda, likely to keep it safe. But I am able to start applying an R&D Lock, which nets me two points. Laurie focuses on securing R&D and I focus on building up to access with my two R&DI. Laurie scores out, though I cannot remember how, and I bounce an R&D ice and manage to score 2 points. Time is called with us both at 2 points, the judge says play to the next point, which I am sure isn't the correct thing to do but whatever. Laurie installs and draws a lot with Jackson Howard. I install a third R&DI and run, scoring on the 4th card. Phew.

The final game, his Kate against my RP. I feel that this game is definitely in his favour, but know I can pull it off. We both have standard openings, getting ice, economy breakers etc on the board. After a bit of set up I install and advance in a remote and Laurie runs it, his breaker suite is Lady, Zu and Mimic. He face plants into the Grim and I kill the Zu to prevent access, letting me score the Nisei MK II without relying on psi games. Laurie gets down a Pro Co and draws like mad. I install another ice on the remote and score an NAPD. Laurie hits R&D a bit, and may score some points from Makers Eye runs, but I cannot remember exactly. I eventually draw into a Future Perfect and Laurie sits for a long time trying to figure out if he can get into the remote or not, but the Excalibur, Grim, Quandary remote is too difficult even with all of the tools that Shaper have.

With that I became the Sheffield Regional Winner!

I think that the Leela deck has really proven itself, and I am very happy with it, the fact that it went 9-0 says everything, and it has a great success story. However I think the time of Grail RP is over, well at least for now. It was definitely the less consistent deck and I believe normal RP is better at the moment.

I want to say huge thank you's to Martin and Mark, who made the journey amazing and were very cool about waiting around during the elimination rounds, and letting me eat afterwards. Cheers guys. Also mad props to Laurie for winning Edinburgh the day after, you are a Netrunner machine dude.Finally, don't worry Mark, I promise not to tell anyone about your love for My Little Pony CCG

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